Sefko: It's time for the beards to go ... whether Mavs reach .500 or not

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Mark J. Terrill/AP

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant poses after hitting a shot and drawing a foul during the first half of the Lakers' NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Tuesday, April 2, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Facial hair helped team camaraderie, but it has become a distraction

It was a novel idea months ago and served its purpose of bonding the
Mavericks together for a spirited run at .500 and a playoff spot.

At this point, neither looks probable.

That’s why the time has come to break out the razors, even though they
haven’t yet gotten to that .500 level that was declared to be the buzz mark.
That goal has become like an albatross on their backs. The beards were good for
camaraderie but did nothing to alter the level of ability of this team.

At this point, they have become more of a hairline fracture. Everywhere the
Mavericks go, somebody asks them about the beards and they are getting tired of
answering the questions, with good reason. It’s an old story now, and that’s why
it would be in their best interests to shave those whiskers. Might release the
pressure valve a bit.

After Tuesday in Los Angeles, anything to lighten things up would help. The
Mavericks flopped in their must-win visit against the Lakers. The race for the
final playoff spot in the Western Conference right now is between the Lakers and
Utah. The Mavericks, at 21/2 games back going into Wednesday’s action, would have
to win their final eight games, with both the Jazz and Lakers going 3-4 or
worse.

If you believe that can happen, then the Easter Bunny probably left you some
golden eggs, too.

“We’re trying to jump over them to get to the [eighth] spot,” Vince Carter
said of the Lakers. “It didn’t happen that way. We didn’t beat them, so we have
to do it a different way. We have to win out, and hopefully that will be good
enough.”

The Mavericks are believers. But in reality, even they know the 101-81 loss
at Staples Center in a game that ended early Wednesday morning was
devastating.

“We knew we were behind the 8-ball all season,” said Dirk Nowitzki. “This was
a game we needed to have if we really wanted to make it interesting.”

As Elton Brand added: “This is one that we felt, if we could get, we really
had a chance. So losing this one really dampens the spirits.”

And things don’t get any easier. The Denver Nuggets, who played in Utah on
Wednesday, are 33-3 on their home floor. The Mavericks, even with fresher legs
and with the Nuggets missing point guard Ty Lawson, will have a difficult
challenge to win against a team that already has 50 wins and is closing in on a
home-court berth in the first round of the playoffs.

“Denver is one of the best home teams in the league,” Nowitzki said. “So we
got to flush this one [the loss in LA] and be ready for a dogfight. They’re in a
great groove the last couple months, so we got our hands full.”

Nowitzki said digging too deep a hole early in the season when they were 10
games below .500 and the schedule worked against the Mavericks.

“Just win the next game,” Nowitzki said. “If you’re a couple games behind and
don’t have the tiebreaker … I actually think playing Utah only three times this
year and playing twice there hurt us. If we would have had two home games
against them, we might have won those two. But they’re very good at home, so we
don’t have the tiebreaker there. We should have beaten LA once or twice at
home.

“Saying all that, it doesn’t look good. But we’re going to keep
fighting.”

And, stubbornly, the beards stay intact. It doesn’t sound like the Mavericks
have any intention of shaving them early. But that doesn’t mean they
shouldn’t.

They’ve had two games in which a win would have gotten them to .500. Both
were miserable blowout losses.

“We lost a big one against Indy when we were one under,” Nowitzki said. “And
we were one under again [in LA] and lost again. We’ll see how it goes, if we can
win a couple and shave it.”

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